A World Cup final unlike any other. On the pitch, the meeting of two generations: Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, the player who has shaped an era and the one who could define the next. Around them, everything that will come with Argentina against Spain: a spectacle that goes beyond the match itself, even in a country traditionally less connected to football, such as the United States. And some emotions do have a price. A very high one. At least 6,943 dollars for a single ticket at MetLife Stadium, with the most sought-after seats approaching 30,000. According to Forbes, it is a record for American sport. The average ticket price for this World Cup final is around 11,327 dollars. More than Super Bowl 2024 — the most-watched game in American football history — when tickets were sold for just over 9,400 dollars. More than this year’s NBA Finals, among the most anticipated in recent memory: when the decisive series returned to Madison Square Garden after 25 years, Game 3 between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, with Donald Trump in the honour seats, reached an average ticket price of 6,308 dollars. Figures that only a few weeks ago seemed extraordinary. Now they are being overtaken by Spain-Argentina.
FIFA had long been criticised for the dynamic pricing model applied to World Cup tickets, with prices that often moved beyond the reach of traditional supporters. Yet this final, with its Super Bowl scale, only confirms the commercial ambition behind Infantino’s American World Cup and the push to maximise its revenues. Even Trump, before the tournament, had expressed his doubts: “I wouldn’t be willing to pay figures like that, to be honest”. Argentinians, Spaniards and another 82,000 supporters will. Beyond every previous benchmark. Enough to make a difference in a country where football has always occupied a different place. Enough, perhaps, to leave soccer behind.